Michigan

Michigan teen abandoned by mom in Nebraska

AP PhotoTodd Landry with the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services speaks at a news conference in Omaha, Neb. on Monday after a Michigan mother drove roughly 12 hours to Omaha, so she could abandon her 13-year-old son at a hospital under Nebraska's unique safe-haven law.

As if threatening the family to take a trip to Nebraska wasn't bad enough, now kids have something else to worry about.

Nebraska has been dubiously dubbed the new best place to drop off your unruly brats.

October 13, 2008: Detroit News: A Metro Detroit teen today became the second person from outside Nebraska abandoned in the state under Nebraska's safe-haven law.

The mother of the 13-year-old Michigan boy drove to Omaha, Neb., to leave the child at a city hospital early this morning, a Nebraska official said.

A unique Nebraska law that went into effect July 18 allows children as old as 18 to be abandoned at state-licensed hospitals without fear of prosecution.

Hear that kids? Any time from the age of one to 18, if you frustrate your parents in any way or "act out", you could be legally abandoned in Nebraska to become a ward of the state.

As far as the Michigan teenager goes, he is apparently doing fine under the recent stress.

October 14, 2008: Detroit Free Press: The boy is in protective custody for the next 48 hours. He appears to be healthy, said Todd Landry, director of the division of children and family services for Nebraska Health and Human Services.

The woman, who left him at Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha at 1:30 a.m., claimed to be his mother, Landry said. While she is protected from prosecution in Nebraska, it is unclear whether she broke any Michigan laws in driving the child 724 miles to Omaha.

Michigan Department of Human Services spokesman Edward Woods said Child Protective Services already was investigating a complaint regarding the child before the woman's trip to Nebraska.

So in the case of this abandonment, it was more like the mother was ditching the evidence. No child, no crime, right?

Nebraska officials claim that after having passed the law, they now see the potential for abuse. The law was originally intended to care for the welfare of infants whose parents could not take care of them, not as a drop-off point for irresponsible parenting.

October 14, 2008: BBC World News America: "I certainly recognise and can commiserate and empathise with families across our state and across the country who are obviously struggling with parenting issues, but this is not the appropriate way of dealing with them," said Todd Landry, head of the state's Department of Health and Human Services' division of children and family services.

"This is not what we intended when we said we wanted to increase Nebraska tourism," he was quoted by the Omaha World-Herald newspaper as saying.

Increased tourism to Nebraska or not, 18 children in almost three months have been abandoned in this manner in Nebraska, two of those children from out-of-state parents. Ages of these children range from one to 17.

Perhaps it is better to safely abandon your out-of-control teenagers; maybe they would be better off without you. It's certainly better than checking your own parenting skills, or coming to the realization that the person they are now is a reflection of yourself.